
Wilma Rudolph
gold-medal sprinter
Wilma Rudolph sprinted to 3 gold medals in the 1960 Rome Olympics, becoming the fastest woman in the world and an inspiration to athletes everywhere ~ and a role model to African American females.
It was a remarkable feat for a girl who'd grown up poor and crippled in the segregated South. But Wilma, who'd thrown off a leg brace at age 12 and won despite a twisted ankle at the Games, always vowed her life would be different. Returning home a legend, she even nixed a party in her honor until the Tennessee governor allowed the parade and banquet to be integrated events ~ a first for her hometown.
overcoming | a crippled leg to become a sprinter
winning | three gold medals in track at the 1960 Rome Olympics
being | a beautiful woman whose manners and calm under pressure were legendary
three big moments + 1
1953 | discovered by Tennessee State track coach, and later Olympic coach Ed Temple playing basketball on a school team
1956 | won a bronze medal in the Melbourne, Australia Olympics at 16, the youngest member of the U.S. team
1960 | won gold medals in 100, 200 and 400 meter relay, setting a world record and one Olympic record | the first American woman to win 3 gold medals in track and field
1983 | inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame
from | to
sickly child who could barely walk | fastest woman in the world
born on
June 23, 1940
born in
St. Bethlehem, Tennessee
lived in
Clarksville, Tennessee
birth name
Wilma Glodean Rudolph
nicknamed
Skeeter
~ by her basketball coach because "you're little, you're fast and you get in my way" ~
The Black Gazelle
citizen of
The United States of America
daughter of
Blanche + Ed Rudolph
sister of
21 siblings
educated at
Tennessee State University
influenced by
Olympian Jesse Owens
baseball player Jackie Robinson
~he told her: "You are a fascinating runner and don't let anyone or anything keep you from running"~
divorced from
Willie Ward
~ 1961-1963 ~
Robert Eldridge
~ 1963 -1980 ~
mother of
2 girls | 2 boys
~ Yolanda + Djuanna + Robert Jr. + Xurry ~
grandmother of
8 children
advocate for
amateur athletics through the Wilma Rudolph Foundation
in her spare time
taught school + coached track
wrote her autobiography | Wilma | made into a TV movie
goodwill ambassador to West Africa
died on
November 12, 1994
~ Brentwood, Tennessee ~
"I knew the best way to cheer him up was to win myself ~ and win good."
Signature Game | september 1960
"My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother."
Wilma Rudolph | unknown
"I loved the feeling of freedom in running, the fresh air, the feeling that the only person I'm competing with is me."
Wilma | 1977
"Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose."
Wilma | 1977
"What do you do after you are world famous and nineteen or twenty and you have sat with prime ministers, kings and queens, the Pope? Do you go back home and take a job? What do you do to keep your sanity? You come back to the real world."
Ebony Magazine {quoted in Wilma Rudolph by Jennifer Joline Anderson} | 1984
"I was challenging every boy in the neighborhood at running, jumping, everything. I could beat most of them. I wanted to show that there was something special inside of me."
Wilma Rudolph: It's Important To Be Yourself And Have Self-Confidence | january 1989
"Sometimes it takes years to really grasp what has happened to your life."
I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women who Changed America | march 1989
for further reading about Wilma Rudolph:
curated with care by Kathleen Murray {august 2014}
Wilma Rudolph statue
The Wilma Rudolph statue on the Riverwalk in Clarksville, Tennessee, the city where she grew up. Born premature, Wilma suffered from many illnesses as a child ~ including polio. The disease left her weak and with a brace on her left leg. With the support of her parents and her older siblings, who took turns massaging her leg + helping with physical therapy ~ and made sure she didn't sneak off her braces. By 9, the braces were gone for good, and at 12, Wilma joined her school's basketball team. Once she started running, she never stopped.
Nancy Sims | CC-BY 2.0
Rome Olympics | 1960 Opening Day
The track and field arena where Wilma would win 3 gold medals on the opening day of the Rome Olympics ~ August 25, 1960. It was her second Olympics {she'd won a bronze in 1956}. Wilma was the first American woman ~ of any color ~ to win 3 gold medals, and her 200-meter time {23.2 seconds} set a world record. After the Olympics, she continued her track-and-field work as a coach and a supporter of community-based amateur athletics through the Wilma Rudolph Foundation.
Alex Dawson
CC BY-SA
100 meters | 1960 Summer Olympics
Wilma wins the 100 meters at the 1960 Summer Olympics. She'd go on to win 2 more gold medals ~ her powerful performance as anchor of the women's 1 x 100 relay team clinched their victory.
Millrose Games
In February 1961, Wilma won the 100 and the 200 in the Millrose Games in New York City ~ the first woman to be invited since the 1930s. But she almost didn't make it. When she and her coach Ed Temple tried to hail a taxi, many drivers wouldn't pick them up because they were black. Once they got there, a guard at Madison Square Garden almost wouldn't let her in.
Sam Felder | CC-BY-SA 2.0